Trade union rights widely abused across EU, claims report

VIOLATIONS of trade union rights are widespread in EU member and accession states, according to a report to be published later this month.

European Voice

6/4/03, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 8:52 AM CET

The annual survey of the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), says violation of workers’ rights ranges from intimidation to more serious cases of non-payment of wages and physical violence.

Multinational or foreign companies as well as governments are identified in the survey as the main perpetrators of basic workers’ rights breaches.

The confederation, which represents 150 million members worldwide and has 231 affiliated associations in 150 countries, says that, in the EU in the past year, reports of alleged violations were most common in five states: the UK, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Italy.

In Germany, it says civil servants are still denied the right to strike and public sector teachers have no collective bargaining rights.

Spain still maintains some limitations on the right to strike.

In the UK, the report highlights the fact that many employers obstruct union activities, while the right to strike in Belgium is, in practice, often undermined by employers.

The report, to be launched in Geneva on 10 June, is particularly scathing of the situation in accession countries.

In Poland, it says laws are “inadequate” to protect trade unions; in Slovakia, planned changes to labour regulations will be “prejudicial” to employees while “many” cases of anti-union discrimination and harassment were reported last year in the Czech Republic.

In Latvia, bargaining rights do not apply to civil servants; restrictions on the right to industrial action remain in Lithuania and there is concern that new legislation in Malta will impose limitations on the right to strike, the report states.

The survey uncovers alleged abuses of trade union rights committed in the last 12 months in a total of 133 countries.

Worldwide, there has been a 10% rise in the number of murders in trade union-related activities.

The confederation’s spokesman Louis Belanger said: “this survey also starkly illustrates the direct relationship between attacks on trade union rights and the accelerated global liberalization of trade and investment.”